We left early at around 6:45am. The plan was to have breakfast at around 8:30 on the way and reach the destination by 2:30pm. I've done this trip several times over the last 6 months, since I got my new Tata Punch. Generally a pleasant uneventful journey - only this time, it wasn't. Usually, I always travel with water bottles and some snacks, especially when traveling with my elderly mom who has Parkinsons. As I was turning the corner of my street, I realized that I'd forgotten the water bottles and biscuits at home. Since I was already en route, I didn't want to turn back to get them, thought I'll just buy them when we have breakfast (This turned out to be a monumentally stupid thing to do).
In about an hour, We'd crossed Hosur and were on the way to Krishnagiri, when traffic came to an abrupt halt. It turned out that
protests had broken out near Krishnagiri for Jallikattu. 100s of villagers had blocked both sides of the highway. Later I learned in the news, there was stone pelting et all... but we were quite a bit of distance from the spot, maybe a couple of kilometers, where it was relatively calm except for the huge traffic pileup. I was hoping that things would clear up once the police gets there. An hour went on and then another. My mother by now hungry and weak had to be given her medication, but without her meal, I was reluctant to. Now it was almost 9:30 and my heart sank - there was no sign of anything clearing. I had nothing in the car - no food nor water. I decided I needed to do something. I left my mother and her caretaker in the car, and handed over the keys to the caretaker with some instructions. I'd turned off the ignition but had the A/C running for them and decided to take a quick look around to see if there were any shops on the outskirts of the nearby village which seem to be about 1.5-2km away. The car was already parked in the leftmost lane towards the end of the road. So I figured even if the traffic starts, it shouldn't be a problem. I'd walked for around a km and as the road curved saw that I'd still have to walk further. Asked a few people who seemed to be returning by walk on the other side of the highway and they told me I'd have to cover quite some more distance. Not wanting to leave the car too far behind, I decided to return. By now, some vehicles had started turning back using a large gap in the divider in the highway, several cars and trucks were taking this turn now and as a result, some traffic movement was beginning to happen. I quickly got back to the car and decided to get in queue to this turn to navigate back to Hosur, so that I could get food and water.
To my utter horror, this time the car wouldn't start. It's a new car, less than a year still and up to date, I've had zero problems with it. It kept saying "smart key not in range". I placed the key right near the handbrake where it is supposed to be placed in case of low battery and it still kept saying smart key out of range, then suddenly that message disappeared and the accessories etc came to life. But the engine wouldn't crank. There was some knocking kind of sound (not from the engine but from the audio system) each time I tried to start the engine - there was also some sound like the car was ventilating and then it would simply not start. I then got a message in the dash - something along the lines of 'one-hour mode activated'. Frantically took the manual and tried to get some suggestions from there on issues that could be wrong, but had no luck. Got some help from a few others on the highway, one of them had a Punch (my car is a Tata Punch) and he couldn't get it to start either. By now, the car was completely dead. Not even accessories would turn on.
Called Tata's roadside assistance, and they sent a mechanic with an ETA of 90mins - it was already 11:30 am by then. The map showed I wasn't too far from Hosur - may be about 12-15km. The block seemed to have been cleared and traffic was beginning to move - though the highway was still fully crowded due to the huge pileup. Considering that it might be 1 pm by the time the technician comes, I decided to seek help from passing cars to see if I could get some food and water for my mother to give her meds. Two good samaritans helped. One family who had nothing but a 5l water can, which they promptly handed over to us, said they will buy themselves another on the journey forward. A little later another offered us the food that they had packed. This person after moving on a distance must have parked somewhere, poured us some coffee, and walked all the way back to our car to hand it to us. I'm eternally grateful to these folks. We were able to give Mom food and medication and a cup of coffee to the caretaker. The next time you pass a stranded family in the highway, apart from the obvious need for a mechanics help, do ask them if they require food/water, especially if they have elders on board. They may just be in a fix wondering whether to ask or not. Such a gesture goes a long way.
In another 30 mins, the technician arrived on a bike, all that he bought with him were some batteries to jumpstart and a meter. He checked my car's battery and said it was weak. Jumpstart, worked right away and the engine came to life. However, the dash showed the 'engine' and 'abs' lamps on. He asked me to take the car to the service center in Hosur, which I did. All the way through the ABS and check engine lamp remained on, but by the time I got to the service center, the ABS lamp turned off. In the service center, they hooked the car to a laptop and did a diagnostic check. It threw a few errors, but the technician said these were temporary - so he cleared them and redid the test, this time no errors showed up. The dash check engine lamp also turned off. He said I could proceed back to BLR and get the vehicle checked by my regular service center, as he didn't see anything major showing up in the computer. But I was worried as to why the car shut off in the first place, but he wasn't quite able to state anything of substance and said it should not happen again and I could get it fully checked in BLR. Said he could do it in his center too but that would mean I'd have to break the journey. I didn't think that was prudent, given my mom also being there, so decided to return to BLR. All through the drive I was worried if I kill the engine it wouldn't start again, but nothing of that sort happened - the car ran absolutely fine without a hitch.
A few questions linger in my mind regarding the car - was the whole thing caused because I let the A/C run with the ignition off for about 10 mins? Considering it's a new car, I'd have expected at least a low battery warning in the dash but nothing like that showed up until it suddenly died altogether. I will indeed get it checked fully at the service center again, but any thoughts on the check engine lamp and abs lamp that was on for a while? If it was indeed a low battery thing, what are the chances of that occurring again. Any advice?
Thanks for reading!